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How true this is. I have close to 200K miles on my G5, but the speedo says 75K. eh, whaddaya gonna do? cheers, j

The standard torque value for a 10mm bolt or nut is 45.5 Nm (33.5 ft lbs). The standard value for an 8 mm is 25.3 Nm (18.6 ft lbs). But the rear mounting is by a shaft that runs under the transmission...do you mean the socket-heads that connect the frame plates (pork chops as Al calls them)? Cheers, Jason

callithrix, The best place to get shot is at a guns 'n ammo or generic hunting store. I bought 25# shot for like 3 bucks. I'd ship it to you, but postage would be hurtful. If you really can't find any for a reasonable price, let me know and I'll ship some (not 25#- you don't want that). Could you post some pictures- or give an evaluation of the convertibars when you get them on? Cheers, Jason

Don't worry about how 'tight' you pack the shot. It will *always* be mobile. Smaller shot is more mobile as Dlaing pointed out. Cheers, Jason

Hey Al, Thanks for the post- nice reading. I'll chime in with a statement and a question- Remember that the area of a circle is proportional to the square of the radius. So a small increase in radius is much larger than it might seem. The FBF piston set is 56 g lighter than stock, but does not require balancing the crank? I don't get that. It implies that either there is a 28 g/side counterweight which is rotationally balanced, or that one could just use any weight piston.... cheers, Jason

So, let me project my ignorance here. I think of fuel injection as a solenoid connected to an orifice (injector) that atomizes the gas. Pressurized gas is always on, and the valve is opened at the appropriate time. Gas flows through the open valve into the intake manifold. To clean the injectors, I would think you would need to remove the valve and -a crude approximation- swab a pipe cleaner through it. So, maybe what I should be thinking is that the solenoid is the orifice? Cheers, Jason

That is very kind of you. Thanks for looking into it. I would certainly be willing to buy one or several if you have them made. Cheers, Jason

And remind me not to loan you my car! Hopefully, the injectors are just plugged up with something. Maybe a good hot soak in a carb-cleaner? Someone more knowledgeable will surely chime in. cheers, Jason

I put one of the aluminum temperature gauge/dipsticks in mine. Again, you have to rough up the aluminum to properly read it. FWIW, according to the gauge, I run at an oil temp about 85 C most of the time, on hot days it gets near 100. I knew these engines run cool, but damn! (disclaimer- I've never calibrated the thermometer, so it could be off) Cheers, Jason

The anodizing process really hardens the surface- you'd be sanding awhile. The black is a dye- sometimes organic, more usually inorganic. The best- easiest, quickest way to remove the anodized surface (and the dye) is to soak the part in an alkali (sodium or potasium hydroxide = lye) bath. Careful! Strong base dissolves aluminum quickly- you probably only need to soak the part for an hour or so. More careful! Strong base will eat your flesh and you won't feel a thing at the time. If you come in contact with base, then you will get a 'slippery' feeling on your skin. Wash with lots and lots of water. Wear eye protection and rubber gloves. Mix up a few tablespoons of lye (drain cleaner) per gallon of water. Clean the part, then immerse in the solution. The process is slow at first because of the hard anodization (Aluminum oxide isn't very reactive). Soon, you will see some bubbles form (hydrogen gas), and some smut at the water surface. You can help the process along by taking the part out and wiping it off every 5-10 minutes. Wear gloves. You can buy 'de-anodizer' from an anodizing supply house. It will work better than lye. Lye continues to attack raw aluminum, the anodize stripper isn't supposed to do that. The stripper is also supposed to work faster. One can check for anodized aluminum (or the lack therof) by reading resistance. Anodized aluminum has a high resistivity- an ohm-meter connected across an anodized piece will read an open circuit. Raw aluminum will, of course, read a dead short. Hope that helps- I'm setting up an anodization tank for small parts so I've been reading up on it. Caswell plating (http://www.caswellplating.com/index.html) probably has stripper. Cheers, Jason

Groan. OK, for those who don't know what Schlitz is: http://www.40ozmaltliquor.com/schlitz.html Good for what ails ya'. Cheers, Jason

Oh, yeah. that's fine- SOP. If it sounds like they're going at it in NON-galvanized bucket, you should worry. J

Oh, yeah- everything was going fine and then you had to bring up Schlitz Oh, wait. Schlick. Never mind, occifer. Glad to hear it was a minor deal Cap'n. Sail on.... J

"Well my problem with that is I don’t trust the shop now. They are not using simple logic to diagnose. I want to do all the work myself, and save the labor money the insurance gives me. " I'll bet. I wouldn't trust the shop at this point either. The only real way to see whether the triple clamp is bent is to take it off the bike, and put it on a true, flat surface. That will tell you. My understanding is that the insurance should assess damage, cut YOU a check, and then they are out of it. What you do with that check is up to you. The only way I can see them being involved is if they hold a lien on the bike. So, why not let the mechanic go ahead and include a new lower clamp in the estimate? That way, if it's bent, you get a new one and if not, you keep the cash. "What will cause the brakes to drag?" Bad bearings? binding pads? you could check this by taking off the calipers and spinning the wheel, or just loosening (venting) the brake system. Good luck, Jason

It's a shame Guzzi never put this bike into production. I've never seen a flyer for it, so for the longest time I assumed it was an 1100 based on the transmission and the shape of the valve covers. I should have looked more closely at the block. Looks like it used the Sport rear drive as well- rather than the standard small block rear drive. Oh well, it's cool, but not to be. Cheers, Jason edit: But after reading the article (thanks for the link biesel), it looks like Spec. Dako Monzili has a bright future as a Guzzi mechanic. And I love the quote in the article: “It’s a 1,600-pound Weedeater,” said Maj. Dennis Griffin, who commands the UAV company.

Could you take off with the bars loose? Hell yeah- I've seen people dumb enough to do that. Or at least try. I machined a set of 'risers' very similar to the Sunrisers - each side comprised a block of aluminum and a short rod (not near as nice looking as the Sunrisers). I thought it would fit in the stock risers, and then it could be adjusted to any pull back. Then I decided that I would rather have handlebars, so I sent the risers to a fellow in WA. He said it wouldn't fit on his Lemans- it hit the fairing and the block of Al that I used interfered with the brake master cylinder. The latter could be fixed, the former not. I bet it would be trivial to tap out a set screw in the convertibars. But I have a feeling that it's not necessary- there's probably enough surface area that it all holds tight if properly assembled. I don't know about Speigler- my guess is you go to a dealer, describe what you want and they'll manufacture it on the spot if they have the parts. MGCycle- I bet you could call up Rick or Cheesehead, tell him what you're doing and what you need and they'll take care of it- or they'll send you the pieces to do it. Those fellows are very good with Guzzi's and you know they're familiar with the Sport and Lemans. cheers, Jason

Hmmm, I'm kind of interested in this too. My machinist here at work wants to start anodizing aluminum in the machine shop (I'm at a University). So, I've been researching home-anodizing setups. If anyone want's some links, let me know- I'll post them. The point is, that most 'cast' aluminum is a poor choice for anodizing- not so much from magnesium (that I've read), but from a high silicon content. Maybe both metals interfere- I'll try to find out. From the 'small world' catagory, it appears that Jerry Kimberlin - owner of team Dondolino, and California Guzzi fellow- knows quite a bit about anodizing- I found some articles he wrote in ~1995 on the web. Well, in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know how the anodizing goes- we should be experimenting with scrap aluminum next week, the do some real parts shortly thereafter. If anyone wants to donate a set of valve covers, I'll happily experiment on them- whatever color you want (if I can get it). When it's up and running, I'll probably anodize the pork chops on my bike. Hmmm, blue? gold? orange? naaahhh, just red. Cheers, Jason

Man, those things look like a lawsuit waiting to happen. First idiot who forgets to tighten up the clamp and kisses a dumptruck will call his lawyer. I should buy a set while they're still in business dlaing, please let us know how they work out. I'd even consider removing my handlebars and fitting something like this. As far as brake/clutch lines go- MGCycle sells kits, so you can buy as long a hose as you need. Spiegler braking sells pre-fabbed kits and just tubing, so you could have a custom set made pretty easily. cheers, Jason

And check the path to ground. Did Al mention to check the grounding path? Or the path to ground? It's probably not the relays. The rectum-fryer is solid state, so when that goes south, it goes all the way south. With your symptoms, it's probably the ground. Did Carl mention to check the ground? Cheers, Jason

Do be careful of what you buy on ebay. Not everything Brembo will work. The pivot pin for the Sport (presumably the Le Mans also) is larger than the pivot pin for the tonti frames (specifically the Jackal). So you can swap brake levers between the two, but you will need the pivot pin. I really doubt anyone would want the Jackal brake lever- it's cheap pressed aluminum- not adjustable. I bought a 'CRG roll a click' model for too much money, but it looks nice and works well. Cheers, Jason

I have it. Looks nice, but doesn't work any better than stock. In fact, my right foot now hits the frame nut instead of the brake. The pegs don't fold either, so if you go over Cheers, Jason

Yet another possibility (if one is so inclined) is to fit a molded unit from pratt lay (dlaing already mentioned the dan's guzzi aluminum one) http://www.prattlay.co.uk/hugger.html I just ran across this on the 'net. Al, your setup looks a lot nicer than mine. I used a piece of clear floormat from a chevy truck! LOL, it's just temporary while I get the shape right. Cheers, Jason

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! sorry.... Jason

Think about it this way- the sump is like a carboard box- flat(ish) sides and a bottom. If you are going to lift the box up with a load of books, then what's the weakest part of the box? The bottom center. What's the strongest? The bottom along the sides. Think about lifting along those lines, and don't lift the center of the sump- there's no reinforcement. Concentrate the weight along the edges. Cheers, Jason

Hey Cap'n, Jeff is politely saying that you drive too slow, cruising past the harley bars tryin' to impress the ladies. Now, get out there and wring it! (just funnin' ya). Cheers, Jason